Day: August 7, 2008

This is shaping up to be the screwiest finale in Last Comic Standing since the whodunit that ended season three’s "all-star" challenge round. For one thing, will anyone in the New York City area find out who won? NBC says the finale airs tonight from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., but the NYC affiliate is airing the New York Giants preseason (preseason!) football game then, and telling viewers that LCS will air afterward, and only from 10 to 11 p.m. Where will the other half-hour go, pray tell? Seriously. What gives? And that’s beside the fact that your season six winner essentially gets crowned by a toss-up call-in vote (or producer finagling, for you conspiracy theorists with a touch of reality TV cynicism) among five people. You could win a five-way vote with only 21 percent, you know. Twenty-one percent. That’s telling America you’re their favorite, isn’t it?! So…who will win? Let’s assess. Marcus probably is the betting favorite. He won last year’s Seattle comedy competition. He does voices. Lots of voices. And people like impersonations. Even the hacky ones. You know why? Because hack works. That’s why it’s hack in the first place — hack comedy is stuff that is so popular and consistently successful that other comedians say it’s unworthy for achieving real laughs. But getting real laughs out of three Playboy Playmates got Marcus a free...

A sixth Last Comic Standing will be named tonight on NBC (well, that’s the plan, anyhow), so let’s check my comedy club calendar and see what the first five winners are up to this weekend… Dat Phan is at the Improv in Temecula, Calif., tonight through Saturday.John Heffron is taping a new DVD at the OC Pavilion in Santa Ana, Calif., on Saturday.Alonzo Bodden appears to have this weekend off, but will be performing later this month at the Ice House in Pasadena, Calif., and Hilarities in Cleveland.Josh Blue is at the Funny Bone in Dayton, Friday through Sunday.Jon Reep is at the Improv in Houston, Friday through...

So, yes, Robin Williams is heading back out on the road for an official stand-up comedy tour this fall, starting Sept. 25 in Minneapolis and ending two months later in Boston. He has quietly been working on new material between breaks from movie making, including surprise drop-ins in New York City and Chicago and a week at Acme in Minneapolis, and all reports (including my own firsthand encounter) reveal that Williams, again sober and newly divorced, has been more than generous with his time and support to other comedians. Anyhow. Tickets for the first dates go on sale this weekend. Click here to...

The 92nd Street Y once again brings comedy to the Upper East Side as only the 92Y does it, announcing a slate of upcoming programming for the fall, including: Sept. 9: Warren Adler and Stewie Stone on the influence of the Borscht Belt comedians on mainstream American humorSept. 15: Alan Zweibel talks with Susie EssmanSept. 24: Alec Baldwin talks with Janet MaslinSept. 28: Lisa Lampanelli talks with Eddy FriedfeldOct. 5: A tribute to George Carlin, featuring Whoopi Goldberg, special guestsOct. 22: Countdown to Election 2008, with Andy Borowitz, Joy Behar, Jeffrey ToobinNov. 5: We Have a Winner, with Lizz Winstead and others (New York Comedy Festival)Nov. 12: Zach Galifianakis (92Y Tribeca)Dec. 7: Make Em Laugh, the funny business of America, with Michael Kantor, Laurence...